DCF: Who Are You?
My name is Joi-Marie McKenzie and I’m the Entertainment/Lifestyle writer for ABC News. I’m also a brand new author — my debut memoir, “The Engagement Game,” hit bookshelves recently (DCF: WHOOOOO!!). It tells the story of why I ultimately walked away from a relationship after playing tons of games to secure a marriage proposal. People say it’s hilarious and I believe them.
DCF: Who Are You?
Amanda Nelson, owner of Whistle & Wild – an online clothing boutique!
DCFunemployment: Who Are You?
Kelly Ferenc, Bishop Boutique, Small Business Owner & Mama of Four & Wife & Master of Chaos & Drinker of Straight Up Martinis & Lover of all Things Fun & Eternal Optimist with a Splash of Realism.
DCF: So… Who Are You?
Angela Luna, ADIFF, Founder & CEO
Angela Luna is the Founder and CEO of ADIFF. She is a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2017, winner of Parsons‘ 2016 Designer of the Year Award, and winner of the Eyes on Talents Innovation Award. She is a solution-based designer, committed to creating products and services to better the world.
DCF: Who Are You? Why do you love what you do? What makes you funemployment?
Karen Bate, Founder and President of KB Concepts P.R.
With more than 25 years experience in nonprofit and corporate communications, Karen Bate, Founder and President of KB Concepts P.R., rebrands companies and nonprofits; positions organizations to achieve their public policy and fundraising objectives; manages the design and use of websites, publications and videos; garners key media placements; and harnesses the variety of social media tools to tell her clients’ stories and inspire others to support them. Karen is also Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer for Awesome Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), a networking group supporting women business owners with more than 100 members in Arlington, VA, and new chapters forming throughout the Washington, DC region. She co-hosts a weekly radio interview show, Awesome Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), at wera.fm.
Karen served on the board of the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) for six years, and continues as a member of the Development Committee. She also serves on the Board of Advisors for Amman Imman: Water is Life. KB Concepts won an Arlington Chamber of Commerce Best Business Award in 2012, and Karen is a proud graduate of Leadership Arlington, Class of 2010.
DCF: Who are you?!
Astra Armstrong, Creator of STAND TALL AND RISE, an outreach center for children who have incarcerated parents.
Sophomore Business Management Major. Astra plans to open a performance theater for unaccompanied youth and children who have parents that are incarcerated. In March 2013, Astra had the chance to perform her own work alongside the late Maya Angelou, who was reciting her poem Still I Rise. After the performance, Astra lives by three words: “pride, determination, resilience”. Astra now teaches school aged children, at the YMCA, the importance of performing arts. In her free time she volunteers at the city of Norfolk Juvenile Detention Center. She looks forward to a bright future and hopes to become a motivational speaker so she can encourage other young people with similar circumstances. She wants others to aspire and achieve more than what surrounds them to overcoming drugs, homelessness, neglect, poverty, and much more. She has won numerous awards for performances throughout the DC area for her phenomenal outreach within her community and her passion for the arts. She plans to study abroad in South Africa this May 2017 where she will teach underprivileged children the history of the arts as well as complete a community service based project. Astra embodies all these and more as a writer, a performer, and a dreamer. (DCF: I knew we all needed some hope so I am so proud to present the future!!)
DCFunemployment: Tell the people – Who are you?
Stephanie Kiah, Stephanie Kiah Art, Contemporary Fine Artist
Bio: Stephanie Kiah was born in 1987 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and had advanced training in art from an early age. In 2008, she served as an intern at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. She also completed her field studies at the Dallas Museum of Art and Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas as well as at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. In 2009, Kiah graduated with honors from Norfolk State University (NSU) with a B.A. in Fine Arts.
Her first solo gallery show entitled “On Earth & Above” exhibited February through April 2015 at ARTs East New York Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. Her current contemporary conceptual exhibit, In Tune, will be up through early March 2017 at NSU’s James Wise Gallery in Norfolk, Virginia. Kiah’s works have been a part of group shows and events in New York, Washington D.C., Virginia, New Jersey, California, Maryland, and Georgia, and are a part of private collections across the United States, as well as within Nigeria. Some of her more notable collectors are actress Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures, Empire) and Charles Allen (son of Eugene Allen, the man whose life inspired the movie The Butler.) Her art has also been exhibited at the Pfizer World Headquarters in New York City, the historic Hampton University Museum in Hampton, VA, and has been a part of the permanent collection of the Singletary Art Gallery & African Art Museum in Portsmouth, VA since 2008.
DCFunemployment: Tell the people – Who are you?
Andrea Weinberg, CEO of The Andi Brand
We make innovative handbags to support awesome humans in their quests to be good to themselves. I love of adventure, my fellow humans, Earth and beyond.
DCFunemployment: Tell the people – Who are you?
My name is Ashlee Tuck and I’m the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Will Drink For Travel. Will Drink For Travel is a travel site that combines my love of traveling and seeing new places with my love of unique and native spirits. It’s a view into the wine, beer, and spirits I’ve encountered while traveling. (DCF: For all of us with travel more on the list for 2017 Ashlee is goals so take some notes and get to seeing the world, first through her eyes then hopefully on your own!!)
The Funemployed 